FT newbie here with a couple questions regarding upgraded travel on Airfrance. In February I plan on flying LAX -> TXL -> FLR -> LAX. After doing a little research, it seems that Airfrance has the cheapest fare in economy class, around $1200. AF also has the least expensive business class fare at $4800, but that's a bit steep for me at the moment.

I've been reading through the forums, and I'm well aware that the possibility of an operational upgrade is pretty much nil, considering I have no status with AF.

That being said, I'm perfectly willing to pay for an upgrade, if it's less money than the simple fare difference.

For these flights, it would be great to upgrade the LAX -> CDG and CDG -> LAX portions.

It looks like it will be 25000 miles to upgrade these flights. I wasn't able to find any information on this, is it possible to buy miles with Flying Blue? If not, can I buy miles on a Skyteam partner, like Delta, and use that for the upgrade? With AF can you use miles to upgrade at the gate, or do you have to call the airline 24 hours ( or more ) in advance to use them? The class of the ticket LAX -> CDG is Tempo L, and CDG -> LAX is Tempo T. Do these ticket classes qualify for a mileage upgrade, or should I look at purchasing Y?

Some airlines, if they have seats available, will allow you to simply pay for an upgrade at the gate. On United, from FRA -> LAX, I was able to pay 400 Euro for a business class seat, which was well worth it in my opinion. These paid upgrades, from my experience, are only available at the ticket counter or the gate, and not all airlines offer them; so my question is, does Airfrance offer this type of service?

Welcome to FT
Air France does not sell miles.
But even if they did, you could upgrade with miles only on full fare economy and it is much more money than the price you found.

For biz travel, I am afraid you should pay for it...
I dont know the rules on UA and AA for upgrading if you have (many) miles.

Regarding the fares you have found, I will consider to buy 2 round trips:
One from LAX to TXL ($614 all included, and if you want to fly on Air France, the fare is around $ 740, as on Klm and Northwest, and American airlines is around $711...)http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/di...NS-2=1&ND-10=1

Even if you had enough miles in your FB account to request an upgrade, L and T fare would not allow you to upgrade using miles. For tickets purchased in the US, you require a minimum of K fare and above to upgrade (award seat availability "O" is another issue).

Paying for an upgrade on AF flights, I have neither had this experience nor heard anyone being able to do so (meaning it could be difficult or impossible to do so). But give it another day, some of us on here may be able to share his/her experience.